Beast (8 page)

I placed the roses gently on the counter to pour out the dirty water. Even though the water was brown, the roses were still as beautiful, if not more so, than a newly opened blossom. I washed out the vase and filled it with fresh, cool water. Then I grabbed the roses and set them back in the vase.

“There you go. New, fresh water for you to live in,” I said to the lush red roses.

I walked over and placed the vase on the nightstand.

After I looked at the roses for a little longer, I turned to Buttons, who was licking himself on my pillow. Once he realized I was watching him, he perked up. He gave me a look as if to say, “What are you looking at?” I giggled.

After this, he moved toward me and put his front paws on my chest. Though I knew that he was stretching, it seemed as if he knew that I needed a hug. With his paws still on my chest, he looked into my eyes, letting out a soft, sweet meow.

I rubbed my hand down his back as he began to purr. This made me smile. I loved Buttons so much; he always knew when I needed him most.

After this, I changed into some of my ratty clothes so that I could try to take care of the roses outside. I shut my closet right as Buttons tried to walk in.

I made my way out of my room to the foyer, worried about what the roses outside might look like. In the foyer, I saw a lot of the people who worked for us walking in and out, preparing for later. So I had to sneak outside, because I knew that if they saw me, they would not want me to go outside and become dirty before the funeral.

When I arrived at the rose bed, I saw that the roses looked extremely horrid. There were still only eight roses with any petals on them. All the rest had shed their stiff, brown petals all over the bed. The eight roses still holding on to life were brown, but not as brown as the petals on the ground. They only had about two or three petals left each.

I brought them water and then started to rid the bed of the petals. After I had cleared a majority of the petals, I began to water the roses. Since I had first realized that they were dying, over a week ago, I had taken care of them every day. Some of the stems were bending over, but they were all a dark green; it did not make sense. While the rose petals were brown and dead, the stems still seemed to have a little bit of life in them. After I finished taking care of them, I hurried back inside, hoping that no one would see me.

“Stop right there, mister,” I heard someone say.

I had just walked through the foyer and was headed to my bedroom. When I heard the voice, I wrinkled my forehead and slowly turned to see Leala standing there with her arms folded, shaking her head, with a smile on her face.

“What were you doing?”

“I was … I was trying to take care of the roses,” I said, looking down at the tile in the foyer.

“Silly boy.” She giggled. “Now go wash up; it is almost time for lunch.”

“Okay, I will.”

“And do not change into your nice clothes until after lunch,” she shouted as I made my way to my room.

There was mud all over my arms and face. After I washed myself off, I changed into my regular clothes. Then I walked over to my window to look at the sky. It was a clear day minus a few fluffy white clouds dispersed throughout the sky.

After I did this, I made my way down to the dining room for lunch. Still not hungry, I did not want to eat at all. Luckily, when I arrived at the table, I saw that my plate had only a little bit of food on it. Deleena was already in the dining room, washing the windows, and Russel was setting the table. When I walked in, I could hear Leala walking behind me, humming.

Without saying a word, I sat down in my chair. Leala was the only one who knew I was in the room. She came over and sat down next to me. Deleena then turned and saw us sitting there, so both Russel and Deleena made their way to the table.

No one really said much while we were eating. It might have been because we were all thinking about what was going to happen after lunch. I was not ready to say good-bye to my parents. A tear started running down my cheek. I sniffled and took a deep breath, my eyes filling with water.

Once I was able to stand up, I ran toward my room. I began to weep as I ran through the Seasons Pathway. At the bottom of the stairs that led to my room, I stopped to try to pull myself together. But I was still crying as I walked up the stairs and to my door. When I opened the door, the roses subdued me, which allowed the tears let up.

I walked to my closet to grab the outfit that I had worn on the morning of my birthday. It was my mother’s favorite outfit on me, so I wanted to wear it as if Mother were there, to make her smile. Then I put my papa’s handkerchief in the pocket of the coat I was wearing. Before placing the handkerchief in my pocket, I unwrapped my mother’s brooch and put it in my pants pocket.

After I had finished dressing, I still had some time before I needed to go downstairs to meet up with Russel, Deleena, and Leala. So I went over to my bed to sit down, which made me think about my parents; I missed them so much. Nothing could ever replace them in my heart.

After thinking of them, I stood up to make my way down the stairs. When I stepped onto to the last stair, I shut my eyes, taking a deep breath.

The moment my foot touched the ground floor, I blurted out, “In a year’s time, things will change.”

Where did that come from? Why did I say that? In a year’s time, things will change. A year from when? What will change?
I was utterly confused. My heart began to race. I looked around the room to see if anyone had heard me.

Leala walked up and said, “What was that?”

“I do not know! It just came out of my mouth.”

“Are you sure, sweetheart? Will you be okay today?”

“I do not know. And I hope so.”

She took my hand and kissed my forehead.

We walked to the front of the castle. Leala looked more like Mother than ever. Her hair was up, and she was wearing an elegant black dress. My heart was at peace for that moment in time.

Once we were in the foyer, we met up with Russel and Deleena. I grabbed on to Deleena’s hand with my left hand; I looked up at both of them.

“Are you ready?” Russel asked.

“No. But I do not think I will ever be ready,” I told him.

When we made our way through the wooden doors, I saw that there were many people there, including many people I did not know. Almost all of them were wearing black, and their faces looked sorrowful. There were groups of people huddled together, standing close, whispering to one another.

As we walked outside, people told us that they were sorry for our loss. They all seemed to blur together after a while.

My emotions were all over the place. I was nervous because of all the people, frightened that my parents were gone, and anxious for the day to end already. My heart pounded, and I attempted to take slow, deep breaths as we walked through the crowd of people.

I saw Ava, my mother’s best friend’s daughter whom I had to dance with at balls. She was standing next to her mother, holding her hand. She saw me, so she smiled. I attempted to smile back, but I could not do it. Then I looked to Deleena and Leala and nodded to them that I was okay. I let go of their hands to make my way over to Ava.

“How are you?” she asked as I walked closer.

“I really do not know. Honestly, I am so confused about how to feel,” I informed her.

“I am really sorry that you lost your mommy and daddy. I do not know what I would do without …” Her words trailed off.

“I understand. Somehow I will get through, I hope. We should play together soon,” I mentioned.

“That would be great. Especially now that you are a whole year older than me!” She giggled.

Ava then tugged on her mother’s dress.

“Can we have a play date soon? Please?” she asked her mother.

“Let us give him some time to adjust to everything, and then we will,” she informed her daughter, who was twirling around in her black dress.

I walked away from them to find Deleena again. After I found her, we walked over and found our seats in the front row of chairs. Leala came over to sit on the other side of me, and Russel sat on the other side of her.

The priest came to the front of the crowd and began speaking about my parents.

“We came here today to celebrate the lives of …”

After that, everything began to fade away. I started thinking about my parents and the recurring nightmare I had about them. While I sat there, I replayed the whole horrific nightmare in my mind.

Suddenly I was transported to the forest, and I saw the creature walk up to my parents. He began to chant as he came closer to them. I could never understand what the creature said, because it was in a language that I had never heard of before. He began,

Cura somakla dom

quope jov tari

xes wo pola vatria

chan dy ma na

vic tor iya

spen ci er.

But this time was different; I actually understood part of the chant. He said it again:

Cura somakla dom

quope jov tari

xes wo pola vatria …

When he started to say the last part, I heard,

In a year’s time, things will change

from what is known

to something strange.

I shook my head and was brought back to the funeral.

Did I really understand part of that? What does it mean?

My eyes widened as I pondered this. I must have started to squeeze Deleena’s and Leala’s hands, because they both looked at me. Honestly, I had no idea what was going on at the funeral, because I was concentrating on the dream.

The priest ended by saying, “We give our hearts and prayers to this family. Let us shower love on them during this hard time.”

That was it?
It seemed as if the service had lasted fewer than ten minutes. According to Leala, it had been more like an hour and a half. I had been so caught up in thinking about my parents and understanding part of the chant.

After the priest finished, everyone stood up to make his or her way over to us. Russel, Deleena, Leala, and I stood by the priest. My parents had known so many people; many people I did not know came up to give us their condolences. Some left flowers; others left letters or gifts.

People hung around for a while; some stayed until sunset. Many people told me how much they had loved Mother and Papa, and they told me how much I resembled them. Some people were nice, while others were not so nice.

One couple came to talk with us just before the sun began to set. While I looked up at them, something caught my eye behind them in the forest. I had to do a double take to realize what it was.

I began to tug on Leala’s dress; my eyes widened, and my heart began to pound.

“Leala,” I said, trying not to interrupt the conversation.

“Hold on,” she told me.

I waited a little while longer.

“Leala,” I said a little louder.

“One second, sweetie.”

It turned toward me. It was the creature from my dream. I saw its wicked black eyes.

“Leala!”
I almost yelled.

“What?” she finally answered.

“Look!” I pointed toward the creature.

As soon as I pointed at it, it vanished. Leala bent down to my level. “What am I looking at, sweetie?”

“Th-the creature from my dreams. It wa-was here!”

She patted me on the head and told me that maybe I was daydreaming.

Nightfall came just as quickly as the funeral had finished. We had dinner served for those who had come. I hurried to change for bed after everyone finally left. It had been a long day; I was glad that it was finally over.

When I sat on my bed, Buttons was by my side, lying on the pillow. As I looked at the roses, I began to sing the “Little Rose” song that Mother had sung the night of my birthday. Although she was no longer with me, I always felt her presence when I looked at the roses.

After they gave me my water to place on my nightstand, Leala, Deleena, and Russel told me good night. After such a busy day, I was overly tired and exhausted. Before I fell asleep, I petted Buttons and kissed his forehead. The second I set my head on the pillow, I was out.

That night, I dreamed of the Rose House. I had done this many times before, but this time something was different. The sun was shining, and there was a light breeze. The leaves on the trees were rustling behind the house. The roses surrounding the house were incredible! They looked like the roses that were on my nightstand.

There were birds chirping, flying overhead. Slowly, I walked a little closer to the house. After moving a few steps forward, I could not move any farther. I could look up and around, but I was unable to go closer to the house.

The house slowly faded away from my sight. After the house disappeared, the vibrant, beautiful roses were all I could see.